Armored vehicles may include a rotatable turret and a weapon mounted to the turret for use in military operations. To assist the turret operator in rotating the turret, a controlled drive system may be installed in the armored vehicle. The drive system may include a motor that drives rotation of the turret and a controller that provides instructions to the motor. For example, the controller may instruct the motor to rotate the turret clockwise or counterclockwise depending on input from the turret operator. Input may be provided by an external input device coupled to the controller such as, for example, a joystick or other hand-actuatable input device.
In some circumstances, manual operation of the turret may be preferred over controlled operation of the turret. During manual operation, a hand-powered crank may be attached to the motor allowing the turret operator to spin the motor by turning the crank and thus rotating the turret. However, the crank can pose a danger to the turret operator when the crank is attached to the motor. Since the crank is attached to the motor itself, the crank will spin as the motor spins. Consequently, if the crank is attached to the motor while the motor is spinning during controlled turret rotation, the attached crank will also spin as the motor rotates the turret. Due to the high forces involved in rotating the turret, the crank may spin at a high velocity thus exposing the turret operator to potential risk of injury.
Therefore, a need exists for a controller of a vehicle turret that provides automated control checks during turret operation.